Green Carnation Premiere Grand and Gloomy New Album

While they quickly amassed a cult following behind one of the most ambitious epics in metal history, for the past 35 years, there was one tale – or three, to be exact – that continued to elude Green Carnation. That is, until now. With The Shores of Melancholia, the long-accomplished prog metal journeymen are finally setting sail on an epic album trilogy that will take fans to the highest peaks and darkest inner rooms.

“The songwriting is understated yet constantly captivating”, PROG praises, “while the individual tracks are all capable of shining under their own lights, The Shores of Melancholia works best as a whole. There’s an ebb and flow and a sense of cohesion even when they dip towards the extremes”.

“The Shores of Melancholia leans heavy into huge, tear-stained melodies and the lush analogue wash of old-school instruments”, writes Metal Hammer, “…the album’s core is dark, progressive wonder, as meticulously executed as ever”.

“I can’t say enough good things about this album”, says Sea of Tranquility, “…there is nothing I’ve heard this year that has provided a pleasant suprise quite like The Shores of Melancholia. A brilliant prog metal release that I will have on high rotation for years to come”.

A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia comes out this Friday, September 5, but you can hear all six grand and gloomy songs today by listening to the full album stream on the Season of Mist YouTube channel.

Listen
https://youtu.be/W09t-onM9-4

Pre-order
https://orcd.co/greencarnationadarkpoem1

Pre-save on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/prerelease/2o7sN7WqyIQDx96WvqtYUm?si=qoQVyW1ZR9e0cVH3FHPIIg

“Today is a milestone in Green Carnation’s history, as we’re now finally able to share the first part of A Dark Poem with the world”, says the band’s vocalist Kjetil Nordhus. “The incredible amount of work behind this album, and the time it took to finish it on the level we wanted, makes it even sweeter to finally be here. This is indeed a proud moment for Green Carnation. We are looking forward to the journey ahead”.

Chat with Green Carnation about the first part of A Dark Poem today during the band’s Reddit AMA. 

Green Carnation Reddit AMA
r/progmetal
Thursday, September 4 @ 12 pm Eastern Time

Join
https://www.reddit.com/r/progmetal/comments/1n5tge0/ama_announcement_green_carnation_will_be_here_on/

Green Carnation will perform all of A Dark Poem live in their hometown of Kristiansand, Norway on September 12, 2026. During this once-in-a-lifetime 3-hour performance, the band will perform all three parts of their epic album trilogy in full, one after another, alongside some very special guests and the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra.

Get tickets
https://kilden.com/forestilling/green-carnation-3/

No matter how long or where the journey has taken them, Green Carnation have always sought to climb the highest mountains. While founded by Emperor’s former bassist Tchort in the early ’90s, the Norwegians quickly blazed their own trail through fields of symphonic doom, hard rock, acoustic plucking and progressive metal. The idea for an album trilogy stems back to the band’s very first opus, Light of Day, Day of Darkness, though the inspiration for A Dark Poem dates back even further to Arthur Rimbaud’s 1870 poem “Ophelia”.         

“We like to purse things that are extremely ambitious”, says Nordhus. “Creating a trilogy of albums felt like it might be just out of our reach, which is what made us want to see if we could do it”.

Though only the beginning of the band’s latest epic journey, The Shores of Melancholia pulls a page from across Green Carnation’s storied 25-year discography. The album’s opening one-two punch landed a direct hit during the band’s set yesterday at ProgPower USA. “As Silence Took You” opens its sails with majestic, billowing leads before “In Your Paradise” chugs full steam ahead after the clarion call of a flute. “It makes you want to bang your head a little”, Nordhus says with a pleased smile. “I think melancholia suits Green Carnation very well”.

While navigated with the band’s familiar mastery, the view from The Shores of Melancholia is no palatial retreat. “The album reflects the troubled relationship between our personal lives and the external world”, Nordhus explains. “It’s about losing faith in the world we’ve come to know and how that leads to an inner dystopia”. Judgement day appears around every corner, steering them from the title track’s anxious war-torn tide to the Floydian whirlpools of paranoia that drench “Me, My Enemy”. The dark and stormy “The Slave That You Are” even claws back to Green Carnation’s budding days in extreme metal thanks to the blackened howl of Enslaved’s Grutle Kjellson.

“A lesson learned, now bridges burn”,  Nordhus cries out with impassioned cleans, as if tied to the mast during the album’s bright and blazing closer “Too Close to the Flame”.

On A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia, Green Carnation set sail on an epic journey into a dark night of the soul.

More praise for A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia and Green Carnation

“…it does more than live up to the stratospheric expectations a band of this caliber has set for itself. Seldom is such a whirlwind of emotional earspank so effortlessly crammed into an album that clocks in at under 43 minutes, but Green Carnation have done exactly that. Again” – Sonic Perspectives

“…Green Carnation are remarkable in their ability to craft albums that resonate with grace, grief and gravitas” – The Progressive Subway

“The romantic poets despaired over the state of the world as they saw it; Green Carnation despairs over a world whose reality has become unstable, contested, and weaponized” – Atmosfear Entertainment

“The band doesn’t try to impress with scale; they open themselves to being felt. And in doing so, they create something that doesn’t just sit in the background, but gets under your skin the quietest, most honest way” – Metal Temple

“A must-listen for anyone who values music at the highest artistic level” – KVLT Magazine

“So, after many years, Green Carnation has returned, and with quite possibly the best prog metal release I’ve heard so far this year” – The Progressive Aspect (Leaves of Yesteryear)

“Leaves of Yesteryear is totally Prog; unashamedly Scandinavian; and a wonderful return” – Ghost Cult

“Nearly twenty-four years after its release, Light of Day, Day of Darkness is a treasure trove of masterfully crafted and emotionally resonant progressive metal” – The Progressive Subway

“But perhaps the secret weapon of this group is Kjetil Nordhus, the main voice, who molds his wise baritone to capture all the emotional registers” – Passion of the Weiss

“If you don’t know Green Carnation, you’re doing yourself a disservice” – Angry Metal Guy

“The band’s trademark ethereal melancholy has been sorely missed” – Echoes and Dust

As Silence Took You (7:12) In Your Paradise (7:04) Me My Enemy (7:17) The Slave That You Are (Featuring Grutle Kjellson of Enslaved) (6:16) The Shores of Melancholia (5:38) Too Close to the Flame (9:16)